On glide, looking back at the Long Mynd during the British Paragliding Cup 2010. Photo: Ed Cleasby
Mal Grace reports on round three of the BPCup, which was held at Long Mynd in Shropshire.
Lomg Mynd has, in previous years, proven to be the saviour of the BPCup, with the most reliable taskable weather, so we had high hopes for the 2010 round.
We were based, as usual, at the Inn on the Green in Wentnor, with most pilots camping next door at the Green campsite. We had a reasonable forecast for at least a couple of days of the long weekend.
Day1 – Friday. The forecast on Thursday evening was for breezy winds from the WSW, but still flyable on the Mynd. However, the British weather was as unpredictable as ever, and at briefing it was clear that the wing was stronger than predicted, and off to the SSW, so definitely not on for the Mynd.
Rebrief at midday and everyone decamped to Clatter, a SW site just over the welsh border past Newtown, for a late afternoon task with the forecast of dropping winds.
Clatter is a small, SW-only site with a reputation for being on the rough side. When we arrived it was still breezy in the parking area, so we hung around for an hour or so but the wind seemed to be dropping. Some optimistic souls carried their gliders to launch but even at 5 PM the wind was 20 mph+ and gusting higher. The day was cancelled at 5:30 PM.
Day 2 – Saturday always promised high winds, and for once the forcasters got it right – 9 AM briefing and the day was canned with only the faint prospect of some free flying late late on. A beer festival in nearby Bishops Castle went some way to make up for the lack of flying!
Day 3 – Sunday, another breezier-than-forecast day, but possibly taskable. West winds were promised for the whole day so we headed off up the Mynd.
Task set but no times as the conditions were too breezy and strong to be taskable. Some pilots were frustrated that other free flyers were flying, although in reality they were gale-hanging, getting thrown around a lot, and unable to get down when they wanted!
The task-setters hung on for a while, with mainly the safety of the pilots in mind, but eventually the wind dropped just enough to allow the 45km task, a race to Stourport on Severn, to run.
Winds still gusting to over 20 mph on take-off meant that launching had to be well timed. Window opening wasn’t as quick as some would have liked, and by the time it did open the sky didn’t look as particular encouraging as it had earlier in the day.
Despite the strong winds at take-off, once on track everything slowed drastically with the thermal drift being very slow. Glides were still quick but there was no thermal drift (never worked that one out !). Everyone found it very hard going – it took over two hours for the task winner, Tony Spirling, to reach goal, and only 9 made it. The rest were spread out along the course, which was the elusive high-scoring task we’d been waiting for all series and the first time more than half the pilots exceeded the minimum distance.
Tony Spirling, winner of the Long Mynd BPCup 2010. Photo: Judith Mole
Day 4 – Monday – Blown out, wet, canned.
Results
1 – Tony Spirling (Gradient XC2)
2 – Richard Butterworth (Gradient XC2)
3 – malcolm Davies (Gin Boomerang GTO)
Best newcomer – Alan Ford (Gradient Golden 2)
Best Female – Sara Spillet (Niviuk Artix 2)
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